A problem for owners of digital video content is that digital video content is susceptible to unauthorized copying and distribution. Once digital video content is distributed it is difficult to maintain control over the video content. Similar problems occur for digital audio content.
Conventional digital rights management techniques typically rely upon techniques to prevent copying. For example, a content provider may use encryption techniques to attempt to prevent illicit copying from a source server. Additionally, content may be provided in a manner intended to limit its distribution, such as in the form of password-protected digital content. These anti-copying measures provide a certain degree of protection against incidental copying.
However, one drawback of conventional digital rights management techniques is that encryption and anti-copying measures can be broken. A further factor is that it is difficult to detect when the encryption and anti-copying measures have been broken. For example, a company distributing digital video files over the Internet using convention digital rights management techniques cannot be confident that its security measures are perfect. Moreover, if there are breaches leading to unauthorized copying and distribution through the Internet it is difficult to assess the amount of unauthorized copying that occurs and its effect on revenues. Additionally, it is difficult with conventional digital rights management techniques to trace unauthorized copying and distribution.
In light of the aforementioned problems, an apparatus, system, and method of the present invention was developed.